Hartenfels Castle

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Hartenfels Castle
The castle hill seen from the south

The castle hill seen from the south

Alternative name (s): Schmanddeppen / Schmanddippe
Creation time : before 1249
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Count
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Hartenfels
Geographical location 50 ° 34 '15.8 "  N , 7 ° 46' 56"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 34 '15.8 "  N , 7 ° 46' 56"  E
Height: 368  m above sea level NN
Hartenfels Castle, aerial photo (2017)

The castle Hartenfels is the ruins of a hilltop castle and one of the most distinctive castles in the Westerwald .

location

The tower of the castle complex

The castle is 368  m above sea level. NN high basalt cone above the small local community Hartenfels , which belongs to the Selters (Westerwald) community and is located in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate . The town and castle are about 80 kilometers as the crow flies northwest of Frankfurt am Main and 70 kilometers southeast of the city of Cologne .

The facility was located on the Hohe Straße , which in the Middle Ages connected the two cities as an important trade route.

history

Remnants of the castle wall

Hartenfels Castle was first mentioned in a document from 1249 when it was sold to the Archbishop of Trier by the then owner, Countess Mechthild von Sayn . The castle was used to protect Hohen Strasse, the most important trade route between Frankfurt am Main and Cologne . Today this street is the B8 .

After the castle was destroyed in the 15th century and rebuilt, the complex was finally destroyed in 1594 by Count Wilhelm von Nassau. No further reconstruction took place.

Legend has it that a secret tunnel leads from Hartenfels Castle to Arx Hergispach (today Marienheim Monastery) in Herschbach , 4 km away . An entrance can still be found in the monastery today.

description

In a recording by Wilhelm Lotz from 1873, Hartenfels Castle is described as follows:

“On a high basalt cone, the round keep rises up to 18 m high and 9 m in diameter, built from slate basalt rubble. Above the dungeon, the domed vault of which has collapsed, three floors. In the first, the arched entrance with an inner round-arched panel, opposite a wide, deep, also round-arched wall panel. In the here 2.35 m thick tower walls are the stairs, which open inwards in round arched doors or doors covered with three sides of an octagon. Narrow rectangular shooting holes. Outside with no lead. The battlements destroyed. The tower stands free in the Bering, on the south side first. Almost nothing can be seen of the polygonal and semi-circular, inwardly open towers of the castle.

Naming

The ruin is popularly known as "Harbelser Schmanddeppen". Once upon a time, a French soldier asked a woman for the name of the tower. But she mistook this for a butter churn, which is called Schmanddeppen in the dialect . Another possible explanation is that the shape of the castle led to the name.

The castle today

The still a good 23 meters towering castle keep , which originally was probably high above 28 meters, the village dominates dominating the look of the castle.

In addition to the keep, which cannot be climbed, there are other remains of the wall (mainly the ring walls ) in the approximately 60 × 40 meter castle ruins, which are freely accessible.

Web links

Commons : Burg Hartenfels  - Collection of images